Beatrix Potter

Helen Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, mycologist and conservationist. She was perhaps most historically famous and also perhaps best notable and most prominently remembered for having written up and also having published several classic children's storybooks with which are all about and mostly based loosely on the narrative tales of amongst several of her classic and most beloved animal characters such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Beatrix Potter in 1913

Early life

Beatrix Potter was born on 28 July 1866 in England. During her early years Potter lived in Kensington, London. She was somehow and pretty well-off. Her family was quite well off. Potter's father, Rupert William Potter, added to their fortune by investing in the stock exchange market. He was also an adept amateur photographer and a man of artistic talent.

Through her childhood and adolescence Potter was educated privately by governesses. Unlike most girls in that time period, Potter was encouraged by her parents to pursue higher education in the subjects that interested her. She studied most of the natural sciences being most devoted to biology and mycology.

Potter and her brother, Walter Bertram (1872–1918),did not have many friends growing up but she did have many pets and spent large amounts of time in nature. Potter also spent most of her holidays in Scotland and the Lake District. There, she began to learn to love nature, plants and animals, which she sketched and painted.

Artistic and literary career

By around the time when she was around at the age of 30 and from there onwards, Potter had then on written up and also then officially published her first original and classic children's storybook entitled The Tale of Peter Rabbit. It was a very widely popular classic children's story and had mostly universal appeal to lots of people of all ages, especially to amongst all young children.

Country life and marriage

She also at one point on in the time of her life became romantically engaged to her then-publisher Norman Warne. Both of her parents unfortunately disapproved of this and thus so became very angry with her as they disputed over the love affair and thereby tumultuosly separated with her because of this as they really did not want her to marry someone who was socially lower than her. However, Warne had unexpectedly died just before he and Potter could even officially marry each other. Eventually, both of Potter's parents had then forgiven her and eventually reconciled with her, and thus she and her whole other family members had happily reunited together once again.

Potter then went and moved on with her life. She also began writing up and even creatively illustrating many classic children's storybooks along with many illustrative background designs and distinctive character sketches within the pages of her storybooks at over full-time. Fortunately, she did not have to depend on her parents anymore for any help and much support. She did not even need to ask her parents for any more money. This is because she already had enough self-earned money of her own from out of writing and publishing a lot of her children's storybooks. In time, she then bought out Hill Top Farm and even purchased some more huge tracks of land. While then on at throughout and during much later in her 40's, she then married William Heelis, a local solicitor. She also began raising sheep and thus became a farmer, though she still continued on with writing her storybooks based on the epic tales of her several classic beloved animal characters. She has perhaps written and published over 23 classic children's storybooks to date during most of all the time of her life.

Potter married William Heelis in 1913. Their marriage had lasted for about 30 years on until the time of her death in 1943. Although, the couple never had any children while living together on since during the years of their marriage. She had then on since suffered from a congenital heart problem. She had died of a cardiovascular heart disease and pneumonia in Near Sawrey, Lancashire at the age of 77 on 22 December 1943. Almost all of her whole life-savings from within and out of her own entirely self-earned money from out of writing up her classic children's stories and publishing her books and all of the money by which she had also thus inherited on from the time of the death of her immediate family members including both of her parents and as well as her younger brother Walter Bertham Potter was entirely left behind with to the National Trust. Her popular classic children's storybooks continued to sell out well around the world. They were published and stated in many different languages. Her then-widower, Heelis had also eventually died just shortly and right after her passing which was around 1 to 2 years later around August 1945.

Bibliography
  • Lear, Linda (2008), Beatrix Potter: The Extraordinary Life of a Victorian Genius, Penguin Books, ISBN 9780141003108
  • Lear, Linda (2006). Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature. Allen Lane. ISBN 9780713995602.

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